Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll have escaped a penalty after Sprint Qualifying at the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.

Leclerc was investigated by the stewards after exceeding the maximum lap time limit during the second segment of Friday’s Sprint Qualifying.

The act by the Monegasque driver was a result of him slowing down to let Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton as instructed by his race engineer.

After the FIA stewards investigated the matter, they deemed no sporting advantage was gained and Leclerc wasn’t driving “unreasonably slowly” or in a matter to danger his fellow competitors, thus escaping punishment.

Aston Martin’s Stroll was also investigated for breaching the maximum time limit during Friday’s session.

However, the Canadian escaped punishment as his lap was in preparation for a push run on his second tour of the Shanghai International Circuit.

Thanks to his preparation lap being impacted by McLaren’s Lando Norris coming through, Stroll was handed a reprieve by the stewards.

“The evidence showed that Stroll stayed at or above speeds necessary to stay below

1:54.0 around the vast majority of the circuit,” the verdict read. 

“In this case Stroll’s ability to stay below 1:54.0 was compromised by Norris’ overtake. No car behind Stroll was affected because the two cars following were on in-laps. 

“Therefore, Stroll did not impede other drivers and gained no sporting advantage.”

READ MORE – Charles Leclerc reveals the repeat China struggles behind Lewis Hamilton deficit

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Charles Leclerc has revealed that repeat struggles at the track which hosts the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix are behind his gap to Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Hamilton was on song in his second race weekend with Ferrari as he edged out Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to collect his maiden pole position with the Italian marque.

However, Leclerc was unable to rival the seven-time F1 champion as he propped up over two-tenths adrift in fourth place, behind Oscar Piastri in the leading McLaren.

Leclerc had trailed Hamilton in the standalone practice hour and that pattern was maintained across all three segments in the session that determines the Sprint grid.

The Monegasque explained how trouble getting the car rotated through the opening complex of corners was a limiting factor that also hampered him 12 months ago.

“I’ve struggled on my side of the garage,” Leclerc admitted. “From the beginning, I felt like I was a step back compared to Lewis and Lewis was faster today.

“Struggled a lot in Turns 1, 2, 3 which is more or less the same struggle that I had last year which is a bit of a shame.

“But apart from that everything was quite tight, so it’s a shame we start P4. But Lewis on pole, and hopefully we can have a good race tomorrow.”

Leclerc lacking confidence in Ferrari’s SF-25

Leclerc admitted he had more trust to explore the SF-25’s limits compared to the preceding practice session, but not enough to replicate the time Hamilton produced.

Asked how challenging FP1 was with the track conditions, Leclerc responded: “Very difficult. We really struggled to put everything in the right window.

“At the end of the day, it felt a little bit better in qualifying, but not where I wanted it to be.

“So still some work to be done for qualifying tomorrow. However, the race is another story and this we will only see tomorrow.”

Leclerc highlights decisive element to China Sprint

Leclerc suspects the high demand that is placed on the tyres at the Shanghai International Circuit will play a dominant role in the outcome of the 19-lap Sprint race.

“First we have a Sprint race which I think will be tricky around here with the tyres and we have to focus on that, then we’ll see about qualifying later on,” he added.

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton: Ferrari car ‘came alive’ for ‘shock’ F1 Chinese GP Sprint pole

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Lewis Hamilton revelled in his Ferrari Formula 1 car “coming alive” as he bagged his maiden pole position with the team in Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Hamilton, the record pole and win holder at the Shanghai International Circuit, pipped Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to secure first position on the grid for the Sprint race.

The Briton had endured an arduous debut with Ferrari in Australia, but he had appeared much more at one with his SF-25 during the single practice hour this weekend.

Having held an upper hand over team-mate Charles Leclerc throughout the three segments, Hamilton’s sole run in SQ3 also saw him usurp the pacesetting McLarens.

The McLarens were unable to improve on their second attempts, while Verstappen came up short in a last-ditch bid to beat Hamilton’s track-record-setting benchmark.

“I didn’t expect that result, but so, so happy and so proud,” Hamilton, who edged out Verstappen by 0.018 seconds, beamed.

“The last race was a disaster for us, and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car but we weren’t able to extract it.

“To come here to a track that I love: Shanghai, a beautiful place and the weather has been amazing.

“The car really came alive from lap one. We made some great changes, the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready.

“I’m a bit in shock, I can’t believe we got a pole in the Sprint.

“Obviously it’s not the main race so we’ve got work to do tomorrow, but this puts us in good stead for the race.”

How Hamilton earned maiden Ferrari pole

Hamilton believes nailing the opening sector on his one-timed run in the SQ3 shootout was pivotal to claiming his first pole in red, a landmark he described as surreal.

“My first sector was really, really strong,” he recalled. “I think that’s where I made most of my improvement on that lap.

“But just little increments through the whole place.

“There’s still time to find for sure which I’ll try and make sure I apply to the next qualifying session we go out in.

“It’s amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in the red car, it’s pretty incredible.”

Hamilton in the dark on Ferrari race prospects

Hamilton has conceded that he goes into tomorrow’s 19-lap Sprint encounter in the dark over how the Ferrari SF-25 handles over a race distance in drier conditions.

“I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain. We did the race last weekend in the wet,” he highlighted.

“But tomorrow will be my first real race run and Sunday will be my first proper race run in the dry with this car.

“I’m hoping that we can hold onto it, but I think the McLaren is very, very fast, as is Max.

“We’re in a good position, we’ll stay positive and we’ll keep our heads high and keep pushing forward.”

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton grabs Chinese GP Sprint Race pole

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McLaren‘s Lando Norris said Ferrari must have been “shocked” by its pace deficit in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

Ferrari posed a genuine threat to McLaren throughout practice at the Albert Park Circuit with Charles Leclerc even topping FP2.

However, come the top-10 shootout in qualifying, any competitiveness Ferrari had towards McLaren evaporated as Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were resigned to the fourth row, seven-tenths adrift of the papaya front row lockout.

In the race, Ferrari’s fortunes didn’t improve and a lack of outright pace and strategy miscues saw the Scuderia duo finish eighth and 10th respectively.

Norris is adamant that McLaren won’t enjoy a similar advantage over Ferrari this weekend in China, expecting the Italian squad to have fared far better in Melbourne.

“The gap in qualifying surprised us a bit,” Norris said on Thursday.

“Our goal was to be on pole, and we expected to be quickest, but we also expected Ferrari to be a good chunk quicker than they were. 

“In the end, they were what—seven, eight tenths off? They’re not that far off by any means. 

“If you looked at FP1, FP2, FP3, their pace never looked that far behind. All of Ferrari’s race runs on Friday were a lot closer to us than anyone else. 

“In fact, I think Ferrari’s race pace on Friday was maybe even better than ours. So we were surprised. 

“I’m sure they seemed a bit shocked as well by why they were so far off in the race. 

“But it just shows how difficult it is to predict. One weekend, everything is going well, and the next, it can turn upside down.”

McLaren driver line-up an ‘advantage’ – Norris

Norris acknowledged that race by race and even stint by stint, things can change very quickly.

“You saw how quick Max was at the end of the race,” Norris exclaimed, citing the moment damp conditions played into the Red Bull driver’s hands.

“Even at the start, in the first five to seven laps, and then again in the last five to seven laps, Max was just as quick as us.”

However, when the conditions dried and managing tyre degradation became key, Norris highlighted that his and Oscar Piastri’s know-how proved to be a big advantage.

“But in that middle period of the race, when you have to understand the tyres and know how much to push, we seemed very strong,” he said. 

“That’s when you need a well-balanced car in drying conditions so the tyre degradation happens evenly, rather than the front wearing out more than the rear or vice versa. 

“Also, there’s a good amount that Oscar and I have learned from each other about how to drive the car efficiently. 

“That’s an advantage—not every team has two teammates who can really rely on each other and push each other forward. 

“It’s something we’ve worked on at McLaren, and I think it’s paying off.”

Ferrari meanwhile, although boasting a strong driver line-up, is working hard to bring Hamilton up to speed, as he seeks to tune his massive talent to his new surroundings.

After three seasons as team-mates, Norris and Piastri are singing from the same hymn sheet.

READ MORE – Lando Norris predicts slow start for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

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Charles Leclerc has reiterated that Ferrari’s 2025 Formula 1 car possesses “much better potential” than has been seen to date, but still not enough to match McLaren.

Ferrari’s strong end to the previous campaign had witnessed it enter the current season expected to be engaged in a close battle with McLaren right at the sharp end.

But while that appeared poised to be the case when Leclerc topped FP2 in Australia, the Italian marque’s pace regressed as the season-opening weekend progressed.

Having languished seventh and eighth on the grid, Ferrari’s struggles in variable conditions and a strategic error culminated in the team attaining a meagre five points.

However, Leclerc, who crossed the line as the lead Ferrari in eighth, has continued to insist that the SF-25 machine is more competitive than was shown at Albert Park.

“There are many things that we can get that we can learn from this first weekend,” Leclerc said prior to this weekend’s Chinese Grand Prix.

“Obviously many things haven’t gone the way we wanted them to go but it’s only the first race of the season.

“We’ve learned many things since then and I’m sure that we’ll put all the bits together for this weekend and we’ll do a step forward.

“I remain convinced that the potential of the car is much better than what we have seen for that first weekend. But now we need to show that on track this weekend.”

Ferrari not on McLaren’s level

However, the Monegasque has conceded that even a more optimised version of the SF-25 wouldn’t trouble the ominous benchmark McLaren laid down last weekend.

“The team is very motivated to turn things around,” Leclerc expressed.

“During the off-season there was a lot of noise, but I don’t think we are on McLaren’s level at the moment. But we’re closer than what we have seen in Melbourne.”

Ferrari awaiting SF-25 upgrades

Leclerc has suggested that Ferrari will be dependent on the circuit characteristics suiting the squad’s package to get closer to McLaren until it can introduce updates.

Asked how big the expected step would take Ferrari, Leclerc replied: “It’s difficult to know, because I think now every little difference can have a big influence on track.

“Also I think the track layout can have a big influence on whether you’re fast or not.

“If you look at the last four or five races of last year, it was Mercedes dominating in Las Vegas, us very fast in Mexico, McLaren very fast in Abu Dhabi and that was basically the same car.

“At this point of the season you don’t really have any upgrades. So I think there are many factors that come into play. We need to stay calm.”

READ MORE – Charles Leclerc rues spin costing Ferrari potential F1 Australian GP podium

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Lewis Hamilton labelled the radio exchanges Max Verstappen has “far worse” than the communication troubles he had with Ferrari in the  Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

Hamilton and Adami, who worked with Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz previously, had a baptism of fire at the Albert Park Circuit last weekend.

Adami, keen to guide Hamilton through the mixed conditions on his Ferrari bow, was consistent in his delivery of information, only for the driver to ask for less interaction.

The awkward discussion highlighted the work the two have to be on the same page, but Hamilton insisted post-race that there wasn’t a deep-rooted problem emerging.

Instead, the Briton feels the coverage of the interactions was overblown and drew a comparison to his ex-F1 title rival Verstappen’s fiery chats with Gianpiero Lambiasse.

“I was very polite in how I had suggested it,” Hamilton said via Sky. “I said: ‘leave it to me, please’.

“I wasn’t saying ‘F you’. I wasn’t swearing. So it was just at that point, I was really struggling with the car and I needed full focus on these couple of things.

“We’re getting to know each other. He’s obviously had two champions or more in the past and there’s no issues between us still.”

He added: “Go and listen to the radio calls with others and their engineers, far worse.

“But unfortunately, you [the media] make… the conversation that Max has with an engineer over the years, the abuse that the poor guy’s taken and you never write about it, but you wrote about the smallest little discussion I had with mine.”

Hamilton highlights Verstappen-Lambiase exchanges

It’s actually well-documented that Verstappen and Lambiasse are fiery over team radio, but it has proved to be a winning duo and a routine the duo has settled into.

It’s a chalk-and-cheese combination for sure, but speaks to the fact both men are comfortable with one another after years of collaboration.

Hamilton and Adami are just one race into their working relationship, so naturally, things will take time to gel, leaving him still surprised about the attention it garnered.

“I don’t know why everyone’s been so negative about it,” he said. 

“I was polite. I always said ‘please’ at the end.

“When you look at some of the other drivers who have been super vocal, almost abusive, their engineers have taken batterings for years, and mine didn’t even take a battering.

“There are a couple of individuals that were quite rude on how we spoke. 

“It’s something you learn along the way. From race to race, we’re going to get stronger together, and that’s the most important part.”

Hamilton went on to say how he and Adami are cordially building up a rapport.

“Ultimately, we’re literally just getting to know each other,” he said.

“So afterwards I’m like: ‘hey bro, I don’t need that bit of information but if you want to give me this, this is the place I’d like to do it’. 

“This is how I’m feeling in the car and, at these points, this is when I do and don’t need the information’.

“That’s what it’s about. There are no issues, it’s done with a smiley face and we move forwards.”

Hamilton to change Ferrari approach in China

Radio communication wasn’t the only thing Hamilton is acclimating to as he learned the ropes of working with his wider Ferrari team and the SF-25 machine itself.

After an uninspiring run to 10th in his Ferrari debut, the seven-time champion revealed he will be trying a different approach at the Shanghai International Circuit.

“We’re just going to set the car up a bit different this weekend,” he said. 

“I’m still having to take a viewing seat how the team operates. 

“It was the first weekend to see how they operate on the race weekend, which is different to testing, how they like to set the car up, the changes they like to make during the weekends.

“As I get more and more comfortable and more knowledgeable about the car, I can start making more decisions, and say, ‘actually, this is the set-up change I want to go with’.

“Already this weekend I’m having those discussions, and gonna lean a little bit more with adding my experience.”

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton ready to ‘rebuild’ Ferrari amid F1 title vow

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Anthony Hamilton vowed that he and his son Lewis are ready to “rebuild” Ferrari into a title-winning team following the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

A tricky adaptation to Ferrari in mixed conditions at the Albert Park Circuit, coupled with strategy miscues resigned Hamilton to a lowly 10th-place finish on his debut with the Scuderia.

Despite the underwhelming result, Hamilton’s father was in a punchy mood in conversation with broadcasters after the chequered flag, making a vow to Ferrari’s loyal Tifosi.

“As far as we’re concerned, we’re fighters, just like Ferrari, which is a world champion team,” Hamilton Sr told Canal+ post-race. 

“We’re going to rebuild this team, not just for us and for Ferrari, but for Italy and all the fans.”

Ferrari has gone without a Constructors’ title since 2008 with its last Drivers’ Championship success coming a year earlier with Kimi Raikkonen.

While the Hamilton/Ferrari debut didn’t go as planned, the seven-time world champion’s father added to Sky Sports F1 “We’re just really pleased we got this race over and done with and we finished it. That was the most important thing.

“With so few laps and time in the car it was always going to be difficult but we’re quite pleased.

“It’s been a learning process, we learnt a lot about the car, what we need to do, what we need to change and where need to go with it.

“It would have been great to come here, been on the pace and been up the front, but that might have been too easy.

“We like things difficult so we’re going to work hard.”

Hamiltons happy with gap to Charles Leclerc

Hamilton Sr. also touched on the importance of Charles Leclerc, predicting harmony between the new Ferrari teammates moving forward.

“Charles is a phenomenal drier and individual and I think as team-mates they’re going to work extremely well together and we are going to bring this team back to a world championship,” he said.

Hamilton was two-tenths shy of Leclerc in qualifying but wasn’t disheartened by that gap considering his acclimation has been taking longer than expected.

“We’re just improving every single lap, session on session,” Hamilton told media including Motorsport Week on Saturday.

“Big learning curve this weekend. The car was so much different from the moment I left the pit lane. 

“Just feeling so much different than I’ve ever experienced here. It’s been a lot slower process for me to really build confidence in the car. 

“If you look at the high speed everywhere, I’ve been down all weekend. Charles just had it from the get go. From the minute he went out, he knew what the car does. 

“For me, I was just building up to that through the weekend. I think I got a lot closer towards it to be that close to Charles in my first qualifying session in the car against a great qualifier.”

READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton ‘grateful’ to keep Ferrari out of the wall in treacherous Australian GP

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Mercedes boss Toto Wolff found himself tracking the progress of Lewis Hamilton during the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix despite his departure to Ferrari.

After 12 seasons helped forge a record-breaking partnership, Mercedes and Hamilton have now contested a GP as opponents for the first time since 2012 as the seven-time champion made his bow with Ferrari.

For Wolff and Hamilton, it was a genuine first, with both men joining the Silver Arrows in 2013.

Wolff admitted post-race at the Albert Park Circuit that he felt as if had “three drivers” competing in Melbourne as his eye kept wandering to his former charge on the timing screens.

“When I was looking at the screens at times, the way I looked at it is like we had three drivers, because I was looking at RUS, I was looking at ANT, and I was looking at HAM,” he said.

“Then, you realise that HAM is actually with Ferrari and is not with us anymore.”

Such is the bond Hamilton formed at Mercedes, Wolff revealed that the Brackley-based team is still rooting for the seven-time champion, even if he’s at rivals Ferrari.

“He was such a long time [he was with us], it’s logical that you can’t say, ‘He’s gone and you don’t care anymore,’” he said. 

“We very much care about how he is doing, but obviously, on the track, he is the competition, and we have to beat the competition.”

Hamilton supporting Mercedes replacement Antonelli

Hamilton’s replacement is none other than 18-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

A star of the future, the teenager was impressive in Australia, finishing in fourth after starting 16th. 

Hamilton was seen at Antonelli’s side throughout the Australian GP weekend.

First, the seven-time champion heaped praise on his Mercedes replacement during Thursday’s press conference. 

“Just looking at this youngster here, I’m happy for him, you know, he’s doing so well and conducting himself so well,” Hamilton said. 

“Taking that first leap, getting that first opportunity to be in Formula 1, it’s so, so special. 

“I know how many years of dedication it would have taken for him. Starting even younger than I did. It’s just exciting to see.

Hamilton later accompanied the Italian teenager during Sunday’s driver parade and the duo were seen exchanging words in the build-up to the GP.

Acknowledging Hamilton’s support, Antonelli said: “It shows how great he is, not only as a driver, but also as a person.

“Because he’s always there supportive.”

READ MORE – Mercedes boss Toto Wolff keen to thwart ‘iconic’ Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari

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Red Bull boss Christian Horner delivered some tongue-in-cheek strategy advice to Ferrari after the Italian squad’s wet weather blunder in the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.

A Lap 44 rain shower prompted emergency action from race leader Lando Norris as the McLaren driver dived into the pits for Intermediate tyres, shortly after almost falling to the same fate of Oscar Piastri in the Turn 13 grass.

Max Verstappen gambled on conditions drying out, and didn’t pit for a further two laps and whatever way Red Bull looked at the situation, pitting a lap earlier wouldn’t have made much difference.

“We looked at the data, he would have been just behind,” Horner told select media including Motorsport Week regarding Verstappen’s prospects if he’d pitted on Lap 45.

Ferrari, meanwhile, gambled even longer than Red Bull and at one point Lewis Hamilton even led the race with team-mate Charles Leclerc in third.

But the rain kept falling, despite Ferrari forecasting to its drivers otherwise and when Norris came past both Scuderia drivers on his intermediates, it was clear a gamble had failed.

Ferrari double-stacked on Lap 48 and fell to ninth and 10th respectively.

“It looked like they were taking a bit of a gamble, and then they probably aborted at the worst time,” Horner said.

“So yeah, I haven’t followed their race plot that closely. From the pit wall, that’s sort of what it looked like.”

The Red Bull boss then offered some simple, but punchy advice.

I think you’ve always got to react to very much what’s going on around you,” he said.

“When it’s p***ing down in the pit lane, it’s usually a good time to put some wet tyres on.”

Ferrari admits to ‘wrong call’

Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur admitted post-race that his team got things wrong at the Albert Park Circuit.

“It was a strange situation because Sector 1 and 2 were still dry and Sector 3 was wet,” he said.

“It was a kind of bet…we bet on the fact we have to stay on track and wait for the last part of the race with slicks. 

“When Mercedes and McLaren pitted two laps before, we went at the wrong time, the best option was to pit on the same lap as Max [Verstappen] and we made the wrong call.

“But this is very difficult…we don’t have a sense of the rain, it is more of a feeling and what we can see on the screen and have on the radar from corner to corner,” he said. 

“We were all surprised about the quantity of rain at this stage of the race, McLaren first, to stay on track with the slicks and just survive at the end it is easy to say it was the wrong call.”

READ MORE – Red Bull lodges ‘accusatory file’ against McLaren and Ferrari to FIA – report

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Ferrari has insisted Formula 1‘s Australian Grand Prix didn’t provide a “representative picture” amid Charles Leclerc’s concern McLaren was two seconds a lap faster.

McLaren survived a chaotic season-opening race run in mixed conditions at the Albert Park Circuit to commence the new campaign on top as Lando Norris prevailed.

Ferrari had appeared in a position to mount a genuine challenge to the Woking-based squad based on the initial practice sessions as Leclerc topped the times in FP2.

However, the Italian marque’s challenge subsided as the weekend progressed, culminating in a nightmare race which saw the side’s cars lag home in eighth and 10th.

Leclerc, who led new team-mate Lewis Hamilton, professed that McLaren’s advantage might have been worth a couple of seconds per lap in the worst-case scenario.

“They were incredibly quick today,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week.

“To be completely honest, I know that they are incredibly quick because I’ve heard they are incredibly quick. 

“But my engineer didn’t even tell me once the lap times of the McLaren. I think they were too far ahead. 

“So I don’t exactly know whether it’s a second or a second and a half or two. I hope not two. But I’ve heard some numbers that are quite impressive. 

“So we’ll have to… Now I’ll go back and look into it and try to understand where we are losing the most compared to them.”

Ferrari denies Australian GP was representative

But although he has conceded that McLaren is ahead, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has asserted that the changeable conditions in the race distorted the overall picture.

The Frenchman noted Max Verstappen spurning 14 seconds within 10 laps to the McLaren duo when he experienced excessive tyre degradation to validate his claim.

“The conditions today are not representative at all of the picture of the performance,” Vasseur told media including Motorsport Week post-race.

“It is more that if you look from what we did Friday morning to Q2 it is much more representative than the pace in race conditions today.

“Even if you look on the time of Verstappen it was fluctuating plus or minus one second from one lap to the other because of overheating the tyres.

“The real picture of performance is Friday and Saturday. Even in this case, McLaren is one step ahead.”

Ferrari expects tight battle to materialise

McLaren’s nascent dominance has gone against the anticipation that the final season with the current rules would contain a close battle between the leading quartet.

However, Vasseur is convinced that the gaps are small enough to guarantee that the pecking order will take on an alternative complexion during the upcoming races.

“The expectation is always to do the best that we can, with the car we have and we keep the motivation,” he outlined.

“Our target isn’t P1, P3, P12; the target is to do the best job that we can.

“Today we didn’t do the best job but we will start from scratch in China.

“We have to always keep in mind the last four races, McLaren, Red Bull, Mercedes and us, we won one each, always with [a] big gap [to the rest].

“It was changing weekend after weekend because the fight is tight and if you don’t adapt the car to the weekend, the tyres, the track temperature, you are out of the range of performance.

“I think next weekend will be different.”

READ MORE – Red Bull highlights ‘quite strange’ McLaren advantage in F1 2025

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